Dire Wolves: Hounds of Chaos

Yesterday, I introduced you to my DIY chapter: The Dire Wolves


Today, I'm going to tell you about and show you a traitor marine's best friend: the Hounds of Chaos. They are (quite) cheap, easy to make, even easier to paint and can be a really annoying unit for your opponent. I use them as lesser daemons of chaos.

Point-wise, lesser daemons are expensive because you could almost get another marine for one of those dogs. But the day I care point for point efficiency has yet to be invented. I love lesser daemons for the surprise element they bring to the game - almost every opponent in a friendly game forgets about them, which makes me smile even broader the turn they arrive.

They have another advantage: Put an icon of chaos in your troop and those hellhounds will not scatter. They can even charge on the turn of their arrival and thanks to having a 5++ save, they can be a nasty tarpit unit for big bugs, 'uge orks or the like. Sure, the standard marine might be the more reasonable choice, point for point, but they are also way less fun. So, my advice: never go to battle without lesser daemons. But don't forget to bring an icon!

Enough talk about how much fun they are in battle. They are even easier to build together and paint. Hint: Superglue a washer under the bases of the hounds - otherwise they will likely fall over. Done that? Superb! Here comes the painting tutorial:

Painting the fur

1. Drybrush the whole model with Bleached Bone
2. Wash the fur parts with Badab Black or Devlan Mud (for a black or brown fur); HINT: Add a blueish wash if you want black fur

Painting the Wounds and Mouths

1. Wash the (drybrushed) areas with Baal Red repeatedly until red enough ;-)

Painting the eyes

1. Lightly drybrush or paint the area around the eye with the base colour the eye is going to get (e.g. orange, light blue etc.)
2. Paint the eye in the base colour
3. Paint a smaller area of the eye in the base colour mixed with Skull White (1:1)
4. Paint a dot in the eyes with pure Skull White

Yes, it is that easy! I like quick and easy. The drybrush with Bleached Bone and the washes that follow do look quite natural on those models (if natural is what one is going for with daemonic hellhounds). Hope you liked it. The next articles will focus on marines again. See ya!

PS: The "dust" on the models is some leftover from a former snow effect.